# Do I need a separate service for transactional email?

> Broadcast sends transactional email such as receipts and password resets through its API, alongside marketing campaigns, with different unsubscribe behavior for each.

Source: https://sendbroadcast.net/how-to/transactional-and-marketing-email

No. Broadcast sends both, and the difference that matters is unsubscribe behavior.

## The distinction

**Marketing email** (broadcasts and sequences) respects unsubscribe status. Someone
who opted out does not receive it.

**Transactional email** deliberately bypasses unsubscribe status, because a password
reset or an order receipt has to arrive whether or not the recipient wants your
newsletter. [The transactional documentation](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/transactional-emails)
explains exactly what this does and does not override.

That bypass is also why transactional sending should be reserved for genuinely
transactional messages. Using it for promotional content is how sending reputations
get damaged.

![The Transactional Emails page listing API-triggered emails with their delivery status](https://sendbroadcast.net/assets/docs/transactional-emails/transactional-emails-index-7f881b3f.png)

Transactional sends are listed apart from campaigns, with their own delivery status.

## Sending one

Transactional email goes out through the API rather than the campaign composer. The
[Transactional Email API](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/api-transactional-email) covers the endpoint, and you can send
a test from the interface before wiring up code.

![The Access Tokens page showing a token scoped to Transactional permissions](https://sendbroadcast.net/assets/docs/api-authentication/api-authentication-tokens-index-1835d634.png)

A token scoped to Transactional can send receipts and password resets without touching your campaigns.

## Worth setting up alongside it

- A separate **email server** for transactional traffic, so a marketing send that
  hits a [rate limit](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/email-server-rate-limits) cannot delay a
  password reset. [Channels](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/channels) covers managing more
  than one email server.
- [Templates](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/templates) with Liquid variables, so the
  message body lives in Broadcast rather than in your application code.
- [Outgoing webhooks](https://sendbroadcast.net/docs/webhooks) if your app needs to know
  whether the message was delivered.

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Wondering whether a specific message counts as transactional? [Ask us](mailto:simon@sendbroadcast.net?subject=Transactional%20email%20question).